Currently, in the marketplace, there are available a wide variety of pacifiers designed to sooth a baby. Oftentimes, a baby rejects a pacifier because it is only familiar with its mother's nipple and areola area. By the same token, once a baby has accepted a pacifier nipple, the baby may reject the mother's breast. Over the years, mothers have been fraught with the dilemma of whether to transition a baby to a pacifier and whether nipple confusion can be overcome once a pacifier is introduced. No mother wants to experience having her breast rejected by her most precious and dependent baby, but on the other hand, some women do at times suffer from the discomfort of having cracked and bleeding nipples from her baby being placated on the mother's nipple. Further, alternate means of nursing would be highly desired while the mother has a breast infection or mastitis, which renders the breasts sore to the point of being nearly untouchable. Also, for all nursing mothers, and particularly working nursing mothers, it would be highly desirable to provide an alternative means for non-nutritive sucking and for feeding while infant and mother are separated. An exact replication of the mother's breast will also promote bonding for the non-nursing mother, or a mother who is unable to nurse, and for the father and other family members.
It is widely known that mother's milk is the best formulation for infant nutrition, and that breast-feeding provides a method that nourishes the infant while also enhancing the health and well being of the infant.
Another concern associated with babies who use pacifiers, is the inaccurate development of the jaw and teeth. Pacifiers can affect the normal shape of the soft and hard palate. Factors such as the shape and size of the pacifier, and the amount of sucking force that is used, will determine the amount of deformation that can occur. By using a pacifier molded from the mother's breast, a baby is less likely to develop an unnatural bite, and will instead, develop correct facial muscle growth which is essential to ensure proper teeth alignment, and soft and hard palate development. Although inventors have ingeniously devised various means to provide a pacifying device to an infant, most of these items involve a nipple that is foreign to the contour, color, and texture of the mother's natural nipple.
In reviewing the prior art, there are a number of pacifiers that have, in one way or another, been developed to simulate a mother's nipple but none disclose a pacifier that is an exact replica thereof. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,108,686, issued to Griffin, provides a nipple and a method for manufacturing the nipple. The device comprises a nipple molded directly from the mother's breast that is mainly intended to be used for a bottle. The Griffin patent also discloses, however, a nipple for use with a pacifier but the disclosure provided does not reveal a pacifier intended to replicate the rigidity and firmness of a mother's natural nipple and areola for suckling. Further, the method from which the device is made consists of a mold which, when pressed to the mother's breast, leaves an imprint which creates a negative mold from which a positive mold is taken, and any material, liquid or plastic, suitable for a baby including latex, is deposited between the negative and positive mold, which when set, creates the nipple device. The disclosure also contemplates using different materials for the nipple and the breast so that the natural breast's rigidity can be created including textures. However, when the mold is mounted to a pacifier backing, it is apparently squished in side configuration, which is not a desired replication form for a mother's natural breast shape.
The next patent is U.S. Pat. No. 5,653,732, issued to Sheeby, is also directed at a nipple for a bottle. The Sheeby patent discloses a natural formed nipple for a bottle with a mouthpiece constructed such that the nipple is integral with the securing structure, has three small holes or apertures for dispensing milk there through, and has ridges or grooves along the mouthpiece at intervals along the surface from the teat, at one end, to the securing device, at the other. Further, the Sheeby device reveals that the mouthpiece should be fabricated out of a pliable latex material. A woman's natural breast is devoid of the three ridges found in the Sheeby device and therefore it does not correctly replicate a woman's breast.
U.S. Pat. No. 6,161,710, issued to Dieringer, also discloses a feeding device which trains an infant to latch on to a simulated nipple and suckle to produce milk. The device includes a wide detachable inner and outer membrane with a nipple at one end creating a nipple apparatus which has a base that is wider than the standard bottle to which it will be affixed. If the infant correctly latches onto and suckles the nipple device, the outer membrane comes into contact with the inner membrane so that the flow of fluid is facilitated through the membranes and out of the nipple. The Dieringer patent also discloses that the outer membrane can be molded directly from the mother's nipple so that the shape, outer surface, texture, and color of the nipple are a replica of the mother's breast. Further, the Dieringer device indicates that the nipple apparatus can be affixed onto a bottle via an adaptor contemplated to compliment several different bottle types and shapes. The present invention, unlike the Dieringer device, does not require an inner and outer membrane.
One relatively recent patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,669,064 B2, issued to Perricone discloses yet another feeding device that simulates breast feeding and can be worn by a person across the shoulder. The feeding container comprises a housing portion intended to represent a nipple, containing a collapsible bag within that can deliver milk or other fluids through the nipple portion which protrudes through the housing portion. The feeding container has straps opposing the nipple end which present a loop interface which can either be coupled to a corresponding area on a shoulder strap, or can be slidingly received by a hand. Another patent, U.S. Pat. No. 6,736,830 B2, issued to Roust, discloses a pacifier device that has a bell shaped flexible body portion with a nipple portion at one end, and at the other end, the body portion is attached to a somewhat rigid base with a handle end opposing the nipple portion. Further, the Roust device discloses a two layered wall construction which can be made of sanoprene and includes a viscous layer between the inner wall and rigid base.
Other patents disclose designs only intended to simulate breast feeding, rather than a method for making a natural, customized, and personalized nipple for a pacifier and device directed thereto. On such patent, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 404,825, issued to Reed discloses an ornamental design for a simulated breast baby bottle, wherein a breast portion is attached to a bottle. But the nipple disclosed therein does not in any manner, shape or form, resemble a natural woman's breast. A second design, U.S. Pat. No. Des. 381,752, issued to McCoy, is an ornamental design for a nurser that is intended to fit over a mother's breast and nipple with holes through which the nursing infant can receive milk when suckling.
Thus, nowhere in the prior art is seen a pacifier or infant bottle with a reproduction of a woman's breast wherein the method for making the device includes a personalized mold of the mother's breast from which a personalized custom nipple can be created to be affixed to either a pacifier or an infant bottle which retains its configuration and rigidity through a combination of materials.